A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'O'

O - Orange Tip

There really is no mistaking this very aptly named butterfly if you are looking at the male.

Orange Tip Butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines)

It's believed that the orange tips to its wings are a warning colouration derived from its liking for the garlic mustard plant and indicating that it is not palatable to predators.

The underside of its wings has a pattern of green blotches formed by a combination of yellow and black scales which provide the orange tip with excellent camouflage when its wings are closed.

Orange Tips mating showing the coloured underside

However when you see the female of the species you might think that it is just another white butterfly.

Female Orange Tip

Without the orange on the tips of its wings it is often mistaken for other white butterflies.

The caterpillars feed on the cuckooflower (as the female butterfly above), garlic mustard and charlock. The adult orange  tips sip nectar from bluebells, brambles, bugle, dandelion and ragged robin - all of which have flowers common in our area of Yorkshire.

I shall have to look out for the butterfly this summer. I can't say I've seen one before.

The BBC Springwatch programme is using the Orange Tip butterfly to map the progress of spring this year. People are asked to record and report the date on which they see the first one. 

There is an even more spectacular orange tip in Europe. The Southern Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides) is yellow in fact.

Southern (Yellow) Orange Tip

This one was photographed in Spain. I could go there or to the Alps to catch sight of one.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside

Photo attributions:

• Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines): 15 April 2014 in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, Sharp Photography, by Charlesjsharp - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Orange Tips mating: uploaded by Entomolo, 17 April 2011, by hamonjp - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Southern (Yellow) Orange Tip: Male, near Higuera de Calatrava, Spain, 19 March 2008, by Joan Cales Hinojosa Galisteo - CC BY-SA 3.0

Golfing Sunday Stamps

As today is the final day of the Ryder Cup match between the USA and Europe I thought my choice for this week would be golfing stamps of which I have just two. Unfortunately neither are from Europe.

Gary Player - South Africa

Player won the golfing career grand slam once and is one of  only five men to have achieved the feat.

Only one golfer has achieved the grand slam in one calendar year.

Bobby Jones - USA

You will see from the stamp that his grand slam was many years ago in 1930.

For those that don't know the grand slam consists of winning the four tournaments

• Masters Tournament held at Augusta in April each year
• US Open played at various locations in the USA in June each year
• The Open Championship hosted by The R & A and played on a links course at various locations in the UK in July.
• PGA Championship (USPGA) hosted by the PGA of America and played at various locations in the USA on the 4th weekend after The Open.

To see what others have chosen this week follow the link Viridian's sunday-stamps

Curved - Thematic Photography

I've looked for different shapes than when we did Curves here in January last year.

Should you visit Cornwall there two places I recommend you see. First:

The Eden Project

How many curved items can you find?

Cornwall's cathedral is also not to be missed.

Truro Cathedral

And here's some curved furniture inside a Cornish home.

Curved chairbacks; curved sideboard

Moving to the USA I found this statue in Michigan.

Rochester, Michigan

I'll let you check out what's curved.

Meanwhile back in mainland Europe there's two curved places to check up on -

Planetarium - Bochum, Germany

Gardens in Monaco

Perhaps I'll finish gracefully nearer home.

Mount  Grace Priory, North Yorkshire

Now it's time for you to get behind the curved ball with our host at Carmi's Written Inc 184

Crown Dependencies - Sunday Stamps from Europe

With so many European countries and and stamps to choose from I have decided to remain close to home. However I have never visited the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Conveniently their stamps are all on one page in my album.

Guernsey, Jersey & the Isle of Man

Guernsey and Jersey are in the Channel Islands between England and France. A bailiwick is a territory governed by a baliff. Both Guernsey and Jersey are bailiwicks, each covering a collection of smaller Channel Islands.

The Isle of Man is situated in the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The island's parliament, called the Tynwald, is said to be the world's oldest continuous parliament dating from AD 979, or earlier. Its symbol shown on its stamps is a triskelion - three legs joined at the thigh. The triskelion is reflected in the island's Latin motto, 'Quocunque jeceris stabit,'  or 'whichever way you throw it, it will stand.'

IOM's triskelion - The Three-Legs-Of-Man

(by MartyIOM)

For more European  stamps please visit Viridian's Sunday Stamps 38